Supporting a Community of Team Players

The Sports Basement Inc.

Customer Snapshot:Overview

25,000 stock items in each store

For Sports Basement, selling high quality sporting goods at bargain basement prices is just the beginning. Their stores aren’t just shopping environments – they’re also meeting places, lecture halls and jumping-off points for outdoor adventures. Even their employees are coaches, sports enthusiasts and teachers who live, work and play as part of the communities they serve.

Customer Snapshot:History

More Than Just A Sporting Goods Store

This multifaceted company that plays such an integral role in San Francisco’s recreational lifestyle was looking to grow by one store every six months while staying on top of inventory as well as customer needs. They also wished to be more adaptive and reactive to expected and unexpected ebbs and flows in their business. Sports Basement looked to SAP HANA to explore how they could use Big Data to help them Run Simple and connect better within communities.

Customers shop indoors to enjoy their time outdoors.

Customer Snapshot:Business Model

Covering the Bay Area

Sports Basement is a sporting-goods retailer with six locations in the San Francisco Bay Area. They take pride in selling the best brands at basement prices. In an average year, Sports Basement hosts more than 60,000 members of the community in its space. Every day, local athletes and community groups use stores for club meetings, potluck dinners, classes, and events.

Customer Snapshot:Success Strategy

A Fixture in the Community

They have great prices, but everything is top quality. Their stores are huge, but they feel and act like small shops. The employees make all of their signs, racks, fixtures and displays by hand in their wood and metal shop. Walk into one of their stores and you know immediately that this will be a different shopping experience. They are a community center, a hangout, a hub. Their stores are like a second home to local athletes and groups who use their space daily for club meetings, to host potlucks, to start a workout from our front doors, or to pick up some tips at a speaker series event.

The Challenge

Simplification and Expansion

Sports Basement was in the process of expanding but wanted to maintain the same local, personal feel their customers had grown to love. The concern was that growing bigger could mean less control over information, inventory and connection with customers. With the help of SAP products, Sports Basement was able to maintain control and visibility of their data, keep their business scalable based on customer behavior and Run Simple as they grew.

To be a team player, they needed back-end support

Enter SAP

Small Company, Big Data

They looked for a partner who could manage a lot of big data.

Enter SAP:The SAP Experience

Knowledge and Insight

Clarity and visibility are the cornerstones.

Better Business

A Business Built on Community & Trust

Every Sports Basement store is created to make customers feel like they’re instantly part of a thriving community of people committed to enjoying life in the great outdoors. This genuine invitation to join the community that every customer receives is backed by a company-wide commitment to putting customers and their needs first. Whether they’re helping local teams, organizations or individuals, they aim to provide the resources, products and space customers need to help them feel welcome and appreciated.

Better Business:Benefits

Keeping Customers First

Through a simplified IT architecture and infrastructure, Sports basement now has access to trustworthy, solid inventory information with visibility into data on a large and small scale. With that kind of visibility, Sports Basement can make more concrete planning decisions, deliver information instantly to customers and employees, and simplify companywide processes from finance to inventory and beyond.

SAP works behind the scenes.

Journey Ahead

Serving More People Across the Area

With SAP products in place, Sports Basement is able to open more stores across the area, making their services even more local and community-based than ever before. Getting a handle on big data as they grow will help Sports Basement provide more services and be even more responsive to customer needs.